To keep your existence in this competitive world, you need to be tricky. And Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have followed the motto at their best. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Friday that Hyundai and Kia overstated the fuel economy of many of their models. Hyundai and Kia agreed and said that they’ll pay owners for additional fuel costs associated with mileage difference.
Many people bought cars from Hyundai and Kia based on high mileage claims. Later the car owners found that they were not getting the actual mileage that was labelled with the car during purchase. So some of them filed complaint to EPA. EPA looked into the matter and started to investigate. According to EPA, two of the fastest-growing car makers in the U.S. – Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. – have sold about 900,000 vehicles in the country since late 2010 overstating the fuel economy of the vehicles.
After the embarrassing revelation, Hyundai apologized to all; especially to the deceived customers. The company mentioned that there was some “procedural errors” while the vehicles had been tested before sold. Hyundai said human error led to incorrect calculations of the cars’ mileage. Now Hyundai Motor Group, which owns both companies Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. has agreed to pay buyers of cars and sport-utility vehicles for additional fuel costs. Besides Hyundai and Kia has also agreed that they will make sure the mileage of their upcoming cars such as Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Genesis Azera, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Tucson, Hyundai Veloster, Kia Rio, Kia Sorento, Kia Soul, Kia Sportage before sold.
Be noted, Hyundai said that its upcoming Hyundai Elantra (will be available in 2013) car can run 29mpg in city and 40mpg in highway. But EPA found that Hyundai Elantra car originally can run 28mpg in city and 38mpg in highway. On the other side, Kia said that its upcoming Kia Soul Eco (will be available in 2013) can run 29mpg in city and 36mpg in highway. But EPA found that Kia Soul Eco car actually can run 26mpg in city and 31mpg in highway.
However, the automakers have agreed to issue debit cards to owners of models that were sold with overstated mileage figures. After getting the debit cards, vehicle owners will be able to take their car or SUV to a dealer to have the odometer checked and the number of miles driven recorded. Based on the miles driven and the average local price of gasoline, owners will receive compensation.
Owners who have already sold their Hyundai or Kia vehicle will also be able to receive a single debit card based on the mileage recorded on the car’s bill of sale. It’s been estimated that a Florida Hyundai owner who drove 15,000 miles over a year would be eligible for a more than $90 reimbursement. But there was no estimate on the total cost of compensating customers.
Source : Wall Street Journal
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